Speaking on Fox’s Lou Dobbs show Tuesday night, Secretary of State Mike “the Rapture” Pompeo boasted that he expects the Confucius Institutes located on many U.S. campuses to be shut down by the end of the year, because “I think everyone’s coming to see the risk associated with them.” After all, he said, Beijing is recruiting “spies and collaborators” at U.S. colleges and universities. Just a day earlier, in an interview with Washington, D.C.’s WMAL’s “Mornings on the Mall” radio broadcast, he said that President Donald Trump is also considering restricting Chinese students from studying in the U.S. altogether. Of course, he threw in with false modesty, “I don’t want to get in front of the decisions the President is evaluating.” Not every Chinese student in the U.S. is working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, he said, but “it’s something that President Trump has taken a serious, serious look at.”
Clearly related, in remarks to reporters today, Pompeo also announced new restrictions on Chinese diplomats’ freedom of action in the U.S. From now on, senior Chinese diplomats will need approval from the State Department to visit American university campuses and meet with local government officials. Approval will also be required for cultural events for more than 50 attendees happening outside the Chinese embassy or consular posts. He claims this is retaliation for restrictions placed on U.S. diplomats in China.
